1 Camp Officers: Camp Cmdr: John L. Maxey [email protected]1st Lt. Cmdr: Jerry New 1st._[email protected]2nd. Lt. Cmdr: Mark Camp 2nd_Lt. [email protected]Camp Adjutant: Steve Camp [email protected]Editor: J. H. Underwood [email protected]Volume 12, Issue 1 Gen. Joe’s Dispatch Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler Camp #863, Conyers, Ga. “Our Commanders Com- ments” 2 “13 Brigade Commander Seeks Re-election” By: 13th Brigade Cmdr. Steve Camp 2 “Joyner/Goldthwaite to speak at May Meeting” Bios furnished by Tommy Cook 2 “The Ironclad CSS Neuse” From the Wikipedia.org website (Continued from page 1.) 3 “Chickamauga, 4th Battle of the WBTS in Georgia” Battle summery by National Parks Service 3 “The Last Meeting” 4 Inside this issue: CSS Neuse was a steam- powered ironclad ram of the Confederate States Navy that served in the latter part the American Civil War and was eventually scuttled to avoid capture by rapidly advancing Union Army forces. In the early 1960s, she produced approximately 15,000 arti- facts from her raised lower hull, the largest number ever found on a recovered Confed- erate vessel. The remains of her lower hull and a selection of her artifacts are on exhibit in Kinston, North Carolina at the CSS Neuse State Historic Site and Governor Caswell Memorial. The ironclad is listed on the National Regis- ter of Historic Places. A contract for the construction of Neuse was signed on 17 October 1862 between the shipbuilding company of Thomas Howard and Elijah Ellis and the Confederate Na- vy. Work began in October of that year on the bank across the Neuse River (her name- sake) from the small village of Whitehall, North Carolina (present day Seven Springs). The gunboat's design was vir- tually identical to her sister May 2016 Coming Events May 7, 2016 - 3:00 pm, Con- federate Memorial Day Ser- vice - Brig. Gen. TRR Cobb Camp 91, Wingfield Chapel at Oconee Hills Cemetery, Athens, Georgia May 10, 2016 - Regular meeting of Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler Camp #863 - Masonic Lodge, Conyers, Georgia June 10 & 11, 2016 - 119th Georgia Division Reunion - Georgia International Horse Park, Conyers, Georgia. board: Each cannon could fire from one of five gun port posi- tions or could deliver a two can- non broadside. Neuse's projec- tiles consisted of explosive shells, anti-personnel canister shot, grape shot, and blunt- nosed, solid wrought iron "bolts" for use against Union armored ships; many examples of all four types were recovered from her raised wreck. Launched in November 1863 while still needing fitting out, Neuse finally got up steam in April 1864 for duty on the inland waters of North Carolina as part of the force under Commander R. F. Pinkney, CSN. Shortly thereafter, the ironclad grounded off Kinston due to her mostly inexperienced crew, which had been conscripted from the Con- federate Army; she remained fast in the mud for almost a month until finally being refloated. After that, due to a lack of avail- able Confederate Army shore support, she never left the river area around Kinston, serving instead as a floating ironclad fortification. In March 1865, with Kinston under siege by Union forces, gunpowder trails were laid down which led to a cache of explosives placed in her bow; the crew then lit fires astern and amidships, and she was destroyed a short time later by fire, then a bow explosion. Neuse burned to just below her waterline and then sank into the river mud preventing capture by the rapidly advancing Union Army forces, commanded by Major General John M. Schofield. Continued on page 3. The Ironclad CSS Neuse ironclad CSS Albemarle, but Neuse differed from Albe- marle by having four addi- tional gun ports added (for a total of ten) to her eight- sided armored casemate. The hull was 158 feet (48 m) long by 34 feet (10 m) wide, and she was constructed mostly of locally abundant pine, with some 4 inches (100 mm) of oak used as sturdy back- ing for her 4-inch-thick (100 mm) wrought iron ar- mor. Many delays in con- struction were incurred by a lack of available materials, mostly the iron plate for her armored casemate and deck; her deck armor was finally left off so the ironclad could be completed and put in ser- vice. Due to continuing iron plate shortages, Neuse be- came the first of several Southern ironclads built with unarmored decks. This situation was com- pounded by the Confederate Ar- my exercising priority over the Navy in the use of the South's inadequate railroad system for transporting vital war materiel. Neuse was equipped with two 6.4-inch (160 mm) Brooke rifled cannon (similar to a Parrott rifle); each double-banded cannon weighed more than 12,000 pounds (5,400 kg) with its pivot carriage and other attached hard- ware. Both cannons were posi- tioned along the ironclad's center- line in the armored casemate, one forward, the other aft. The field of fire for both pivot rifles was 180-degrees, from port to star- From the Wikipedia.org website (Continued on page 3)
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Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler Camp #863, Conyers, Ga. Gen. Joe’s … · 2016-04-26 · approximately 15,000 arti-facts from her raised lower hull, the largest number ever found on a
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